Romanus Ugwu, Abuja
The Department of State Services (DSS) has accused political activist and convener of the “Revolution Now” protest Omoyele Sowore of capitalising on the latitude of freedom provided to him at the Service’s detention facility to use his telephone to mobilise Nigerians for violence and revolution against the Nigerian state.
Speaking at a press conference at the service’s headquarters in Abuja on Tuesday, the Public Relations Officer, Peter Afunanya, also dismissed the claims by Senior Advocate of Nigeria Femi Falana that he was at DSS to secure Sowore’s bail, stressing that the legal activist had lied.
The DSS spokesperson said that the Service deserves commendation not condemnation for protecting Sowore’s life by keeping him in its custody, insisting that no credible Nigerian has come forward to secure the activist’s bail.
Dedending his claims, he said:
“We have said it and want to repeat that there is nothing that Sowore needed or needs now that we don’t provide for him.
“He has been using his phone and making contacts and even using it to mobilise people, calling for violent action against the Nigerian state and destruction of the Nigerian entity.
“But, all we could tell him is that if you throw stone inside the market place, you sure will know where it will land. He has family members in Nigeria who go to local market.”
Dismissing the claim that the Service was deliberately prolonging Sowore’s detention despite Falana’s visit to secure his bail, the spokesperson said: “Femi Falana has not visited this office since this issue of bailing Sowore started.
“As we said in one of our statements, that it is even more unfortunate that Falana who is a very good friend of the DGSS has not even called him for once and we know that when issues of this nature arose, Falana always calls the DG. But as far as this case is concerned, he chose not to call him and I don’t know his reason.
“For emphasis, Falana has not been to the DSS headquarters to secure Sowore’s release. We have asked what is wrong [and] for anybody who wants to take him on bail to come forward.
“Our action is to safeguard the country and everybody by our action, and it is not out of place but ideal to insist that administrative procedures be followed and adhered to in the execution of the court order.
“Is it right that we just bring out Sowore out of our gate and allow him to go? What if anything happens to him or he gets killed, who takes the responsibility. Internationally, we are not outside the global practice.
“We will continue to ask for the right procedure and documentation to be done. Yet people are twisting our action, politicising it or making it look like we are unwilling to release him when we are not. We respect the rule of law and orders of the court.
“It is not right for people to continue profiling the DSS over this issue. Take for instance, what Deji Adeyanju said recently that DSS wanted to bribe him with N1 million. There is nothing as cheap blackmail as that.
“Citizens are allowed to protest, but the due process must be followed. We have said that we won’t join issues with anybody. It does not make sense that people are calling for our heads for doing the right thing.”
On El-Zakzaki, Afunanya said: “The court granted him leave to travel to India for medical attention but we followed the drama he acted and turned the journey to. We saw how he behaved and how he preferred to be kept in the DSS facility on return for proper care on his return from India.”